At 9:00 a.m. Beijing time on December 12, the NBA regular season matchup is in full swing, and the New Orleans Pelicans are sitting at home to face the Minnesota Timberwolves. Before this game, the Timberwolves ranked first in the league with a record of 17 wins and 4 losses, and the only team in the league with a winning rate of more than 8 percent. The Timberwolves are the biggest dark horse of the season, ranking high in several stats, averaging 106 per game2 defensive efficiency, which ranks first in the league. The Twin Towers lineup worked, Gobert has been a dopy-caliber player this season, and even Towns has been brought up and played harder, and the defense has gone from a weakness to an advantage. According to statistics, Downs' defensive efficiency this season is second only to Gobert and second in the league.
The Timberwolves aren't all young, they also have veterans like Conley, and overall, they have a good chance of challenging for a championship this season. On the other side of the Pelicans, before this game, with a record of 12 wins and 11 losses, ranked 10th in the West, the Pelicans also have the potential of a dark horse team, they are somewhat similar to the Timberwolves, they are not popular, but the lineup is not bad, the Pelicans also have a number of All-Star level players, like Zion, Ingram and McCollum, their forward reserves are also very thick, although the Western Conference is as strong as a forest, but the strength of the Pelicans should not be underestimated, this season they have defeated the 76ers, Clippers, Nuggets These strong teams。 They had only played the Timberwolves recently, losing by just one point.
In this game, the two sides are in the starting lineup, the Timberwolves are sending Towns, Gobert, Conley, Walker and Brown, and the Pelicans are sending Ingram, Zion, McCollum, Valanciunas and Jones. At the beginning of the first quarter of the game, the Pelicans jumped the ball to win, took the lead in getting the ball to launch the first attack, Ingram kicked the throttle to start the assault basket and scored the first goal of the game, Towns broke through the layup to make a kill, and stood on the free throw line to open the door for the Timberwolves. Downs broke through the toss and hit steadily, McCollum defended against the defense, a horseback archery toss was also there, Conley's three-point shot in the bottom corner pierced the heart, McCollum chased the three-point shot and colored, Downs threw himself and scored a basket, Zion was not to be outdone, and his two-handed hammer slam dunk was shocking.
In the first quarter of the game between the two teams, they started a battle against each other, McCollum made a sudden brake jump shot to continue to score, Valanciunas flicked his wrist, hit a small hook hand, Li Kaier made a slow three-step layup and dropped two points, Reed Fei also made a layup, and the difference between the two sides has been kept within 5 points. At the end of the first quarter, the two teams were tied 29-29. At the beginning of the second quarter of the game, Valanciunas ate cakes inside and made a strong attack to help the Pelicans take the next city, Walker hit a long-distance three-point ** hit at a 45-degree angle, Valanciunas continued to score in the penalty area, Milton cut the basket in the air, took off to the basket and dropped two points, Jones arc top three-point ** hole through the basket, Towns used the dream step to turn around, easily hit the board, Zion strode into the basket, and ignited the whole court with one hand.
Entering the second half of the second quarter, the Timberwolves were slightly dumb on the offensive end, their outside core Edwards was absent from this game, and the outside offense was indeed a little weak, the Pelicans seized the opportunity to take the initiative, and Ingram also hit a three-pointer at the end of the half. At the end of the second quarter, the Pelicans led the Timberwolves by seven points at 59-52. At the beginning of the second half of the game, Yibian fought again, Zion forced the basket and turned around to score a layup and added free throws, opening the third quarter of the game, Gobert responded with a dunk under the basket to destroy the dunk, Zion broke through smartly, Europe stepped to the basket and dropped two points, Valanciunas continued to make a strong attack in the restricted area to cause damage, and stood on the free throw line to score. McCollum flew to the basket and scored easily, and the Pelicans were unrelenting in the face of the Timberwolves' interior defense.
Zion broke out super and kept playing how to play in the restricted area, and he scored 14 points in a single quarter in the third quarter of the game, leading the Pelicans to maintain a 10-point lead, but McLaughlin on the Timberwolves' side scored a half-court three-pointer. At the end of the third quarter, the Pelicans led the Timberwolves by four points at 90-86. In the final quarter of the battle, the Pelicans took the lead and stopped the opponent directly with a wave of 9-0. Although Conley was old and strong, he completed three outside three-pointers and 2+1 successively, Zion was unstoppable, and scored three consecutive baskets to help the team seal the victory. In the end, the Pelicans defeated the Timberwolves 121-107 to end their six-game winning streak.
In terms of statistics, on the Timberwolves' side, Karl Anthony Towns had 17 points and 12 rebounds;Mike Conley 17 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists;Naz Reed had 17 points and six rebounds;Jayden McDaniels 12 points;Sheikh Milton had 12 points and five assists. On the Pelicans' side, Zion Williamson had 36 points and 5 rebounds;Brandon Ingram 20 points and 5 assists;Jonas Valanciunas had 14 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks;CJ McCollum 23 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists;Trey Murphy 10 points. Hundreds of spectators